The Seattle Seahawks, like every NFL team, are going to have some tough roster decisions to make before Week 1 of the 2023 season. These cuts will be difficult for the team, but some of the players released could be guys 12s love. This makes roster cuts doubly bad.
Seattle has to trim its roster to 53 by August 29th. After that, teams could choose to pick up a veteran released by another team and still clear a spot for that player, and Seattle could even cut some of its own and bring them back. But that's a risk, of course.
With free agency done and the NFL draft completed in April, Seattle's roster is likely going to be set on who takes part in the team's training camp. The players that follow who could be cut are at least two years in and a rookie will battle to take their roster spot. But here are four fan favorites Seattle could release.
Seahawks cornerback Tre Brown
Tre Brown has only played in Seattle for two seasons and didn't do much in 2022, but the previous seasons he seemed like a breath of fresh air. The Seahawks were trying to find a cornerback that could be decent besides D.J. Reed. Brown started the year hurt, but then finally played in Week 6 and started by Week 8. 12s were rightfully excited about how good the fourth-round draft pick could be.
Brown played with the proverbial chip on his shoulder at Oklahoma and appeared to carry that same kind of swagger into his rookie year with Seattle. This energy and seeming determination to excel definitely caught the attention of many 12s. And let's be honest, with the energy and exuberance he played with, it kind of reminded us of when the Legion of Boom members were starting out too, right?
But Brown appears now deep on the depth chart and the Seahawks coaching staff also doesn't appear to think he is going to be a great corner. Seattle drafted Tariq Woolen in 2022 and spent a first-round pick on Devon Witherspoon in the 2023 draft so Brown doesn't have a clear path to a starting spot for the foreseeable future. Plus, veteran Mike Jackson was good last season as well. Brown might simply be the odd man out in Seattle.
Seahawks wide receiver Dareke Young
I really like the Dareke Young story. He came from a small school where the program didn't have a real way to use his skills because the rest of the team wasn't very good but then Young came into training camp in 2022 and worked his butt off to make the team even after being just a seventh-round choice. Young did whatever Seattle asked him to do last season and he was excellent on special teams and then he finally got his chance to catch a couple of passes very late in the season.
The problem for Young is that Seattle drafted Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round in 2023 and everyone got pushed further down the depth chart because of it. Anyone not named DK Metcalf or Tyler Lockett, of course. Perhaps the guy who has the best chance to be WR4 is Dee Eskridge. That's only because Eskridge is a former second-round pick and has been terrible through two seasons and it simply seems as if he has got to be better at some point.
Young could potentially play his way into the WR4 role but he is also limited in his versatility. Whereas Eskridge could play some out of the slot, Young is too big for that. Plus, if Seattle only sticks with five wide receivers on the active roster, they could go with Cade Johnson or Jake Bobo. Releasing Young saves Seattle $819,450 and that's not nothing for a team close against the cap and who might want to pick up a veteran free agent defensive lineman released before Week 1.
Still, I hope Young makes the team. Many 12s probably do because Young is a great storyline as he's had to overcome a lot just to get to the NFL. Plus, it seems like if he got his chance to see more targets that he could be somewhat productive.
Seahawks fullback Nick Bellore
Bellore seems to be released every year by the Seahawks and then brought back on a reworked contract. It will be a little different for Seattle to do that this season as Bellore signed the fullback/linebacker to a two-year contract that only allows for $300,000 in cap savings if he isn't on the active roster at the beginning of the season. But while Bellore is very good on special teams, he's listed as a fullback or a linebacker on the roster and he doesn't play much at either of those spots.
There is no question Bellore is a fan favorite. He "hosts" the show Between Two Bellores on the Seahawks official website and he keeps his teammates loose not only by doing that show but also by being a positive, veteran voice in the locker room of a team with an ever-younger roster. But because Bellore is 34 years old and much of Seattle's talent is a lot younger, Bellore might be keeping a roster spot that the Seahawks need to give to a guy in their first or second year.
Basically, this year could be the flip of previous seasons. In previous years, Bellore was an underpaid excellent special teams player who Seattle had room for on the roster. 2023 could be the year where Seattle has a ton of young talent that needs to be kept on the roster and one way of doing that is by playing them on special teams. Meanwhile, Bellore is slightly overpaid for a special teams player.
Still, here's hoping Bellore does make the team because he is a well-respected veteran who goes about his business the correct way. He never takes plays off and is a team-first guy. And by doing whatever the team asks him to do, he is a great example for the guys behind him.
Seahawks safety Jamal Adams
It's odd we haven't heard a ton about Jamal Adams' recovery from his 2022 Week 1 injury. Head coach Pete Carroll has said that basically, it's a wait-and-see approach to whether Adams returns early in the season. At this point, it seems safe to say that Adams is nowhere near coming back for the Seahawks any time soon.
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The shame of all of Adams' injuries is that he honestly seems like a guy who wants to be out on the field, playing well, and helping his team win. Any talk of Adams being a bad teammate has never been heard. He works hard to try to get back into shape to be able to play, but once he is playing, he gets hurt again. It's a vicious cycle, unfortunately.
Adams also seems to be well-liked by the Seahawks fanbase. This is the case even though he is making ton of money and hardly plays. Sure, there is a loud murmur that getting Adams from the New York Jets in 2020 was one of the worst trades in Seahawks history, and this might turn out ot be the case, but we are still not able to say that fully.
Adams could return this season and play at a very high level for the amount of time he participates in games. He's still the same guy that had 9.5 sacks in 2020, of course. But the Seahawks could still choose to release him if it is clear that he isn't going to play well into 2023. If this is the case, the Seahawks would have to eat some dead cap but they'd clear $9 million next offseason. Plus, Seattle signed safety Julian Love this offseason and he is an instant replacement for Adams.